By Rita McInerney, Staff Writer

ATLANTA--The generous outreach that is so much a part of life at the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in downtown Atlanta received recognition from the Christian Council of Metropolitan Atlanta at its 25th annual community breakfast.

The historic parish was awarded the exemplary church outreach award given in memory of Archbishop Thomas A. Donnellan, second archbishop of Atlanta, on March 18 at the Atlanta Hilton.

Archbishop John F. Donoghue, fifth archbishop of Atlanta, joined Father Richard Kieran, pastor of Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish, Atlanta, and several parishioners at the breakfast.

During the program Father Kieran was commended for his leadership of the council in 1993-94. He received a replica of the council logo, a stained glass skyline of churches.

In accepting the Donnellan Award, Father John Adamski, Shrine pastor, said it “recognized countless hours given by hundreds of volunteers from all over the city who join in service to others.”

Outreach at the Shrine includes St. Francis Table, begun 12 years ago as the number of hungry and homeless exploded in Atlanta. Each Saturday volunteers cook and serve a soup thick as stew and a variety of breads to hundreds of the neediest. Return helpings are the norm and there is a table load of pastries for takeout. Holiday meals are served this large family of homeless and a footcare ministry is available at the Saturday meal. People on the street are afflicted with many degrees of foot ills.

Another outreach begun five years ago is the night shelter for approximately 30 men during cold weather months.

People with AIDS and those who are HIV-positive are welcomed each Tuesday evening at the Shrine. They are served an appetizer and nutritious dinner, again cooked and served by volunteers, at tables covered with cloths and brightened with flowers and candles. From these Tuesday dinners other outreach to people with AIDS has evolved, including hospital visits and healing services.

Father Alan Dillman, parochial vicar at the Shrine, is chaplain at Grady Hospital’s AIDS Clinic and chairman of the AIDS Task Force of the archdiocese.

The Shrine congregation has been assisting St. Ann, its “sister parish” in Haiti for a number of years.

The award for outstanding work in human relations went to the Rev. Harry F. Peterson, founding director and now co-director of Villa International on Clifton Road, Atlanta. In accepting the award, given in memory of Harry V. Richardson, Rev. Peterson said the facility has been temporary home to 12,000 people from 130 countries since its 1967 inception.

He mentioned the Catholic Church in Atlanta as among the denominations giving support from the start and “still on board,” and singled out Betty Messner, of Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish, as a faithful volunteer since 1967. Mrs. Messner served as a board member for several years.

Villa International offers reasonably priced accommodations and a ministry of hospitality for people from around the world coming to Atlanta for study or other purposes. It is a project of the International Commission of the Atlanta Archdiocesan Council of Catholic Women.

The award for outstanding community service was presented to the Atlanta Union Mission. Sheltering people since the Depression in 1938, it today serves people in crisis with food and shelter, spiritual support and rehabilitation in five locations. The award, given in memory of Charles M. Watt, Jr., was accepted by Thurman Chambers, executive director.

Judge Edward D. Wheeler, retired chief judge of the Juvenile Court of DeKalb County, was honored with the exceptional personal ministry award given in memory of Mrs. Ida Patterson. He led a subcommittee of the Judicial Council which drew up the basic requirements of a child abuse protocol in use in all of Georgia’s 159 counties. He has reached out extensively to child victims of sexual abuse and others at risk with the law.

“The breakfast speaker, the Rev. Gerald Durley, pastor of Providence Missionary Baptist Church in Atlanta, told the large audience that the Old Testament Book of Nehemiah is just as relevant today as it was in 445 B.D. “We have to help those who can’t help themselves,” as did Nehemiah, a layman who rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem.

To rebuild the walls ruined by poverty, drug addiction and other ills breaking down society, we have to rebuild the family, he said.

“As I grew up we had a wall around my community to keep us in check,” he recalled. This “wall” was a woman who loved and had concern for the neighborhood children, and who reported any misbehavior to their parents. “Thank God,” for her, he says now.

Selections were performed by two choirs. ‘The large Ray of Hope Christian Church choir, Martin Jakes directing, vibrated with its powerful message in gospel rhythms. Members of the Korean Ladies Choir, Byoung Y. Seo director, soothed the well-fed audience with melodic hymns in their native language. Both groups drew hearty applause.

The annual community breakfast began in 1971, a time when opportunities for black and white people to share a meal were rare in Atlanta.

Two men, Dr. Harmon D. Moore, executive director of the council, and Charles M. Watt, Jr., of the Cathedral of St. Philip, the first lay president of the council board, planned a brotherhood breakfast at the John F. Kennedy Community Center in a black area of northwest Atlanta. To their surprise and delight, 225 people, lay and clergy, came for fellowship and to share concerns.

Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish is one of 16 in the archdiocese listed as supporting churches of the Christian Council. Mary Smith, an IHM parishioner, was a member of the breakfast committee.